Monitoring snow levels at Gin Flat

No small task

Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

Frank Gehrke of the state Department of Water Resources pulls gear to Gin Flat in the Sierra. The site is an ideal spot to test the premise that a warming climate will bring more flooding and less snowpack to fill reservoirs in mid-summer.

Frank Gehrke of the state Department of Water Resources pulls gear to Gin Flat in the Sierra. The site is an ideal spot to test the premise that a warming climate will bring more flooding and less snowpack to fill reservoirs in mid-summer. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Frank Gehrke checks a sensor at Gin Flat in Yosemite National Park. He is concerned about how erratic snowpack levels have become during his 27 years of measuring: thick in 2005-06, extra-thin last year and slightly above normal so far this winter.

Frank Gehrke checks a sensor at Gin Flat in Yosemite National Park. He is concerned about how erratic snowpack levels have become during his 27 years of measuring: thick in 2005-06, extra-thin last year and slightly above normal so far this winter. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)